Welcome to 8th Grade English

This blog is for you! Throughout the year, you'll be checking here for homework calendars, assignment due dates, PowerPoints or videos you may have missed, pictures from class, and you may even have an assignment to post a comment once in a while! Enjoy!

Friday, June 29, 2012

"My Personal Interests" or "How I Waste More Time Than I Care to Admit"

Spending time doing things I enjoy, especially during the school year, is a rare occurrence.  With the birth of my second daughter in January of this year, and running my eight-year-old daughter to swim team, dance, gymnastics, school, and playdates, I actually feel guilty spending time doing things other than doting on them, if it's not correcting papers.  I do allow myself a few guilty pleasures, however, and in the summer, I do find time to indulge a bit in things other than 8th graders and changing diapers!

One of the things I have just recently discovered is digital scrapbooking.  When I had my first daughter, Sadie, eight years ago, I spent hundreds of dollars on paper, embellishments, and developing... and didn't ever finish her first baby book.  My friend and coworker, Emily, invited me to a digital scrapbooking tutorial at her home one evening, and I was hooked.  That weekend, Emily launched her own site, and I do check it frequently, to see her photo shoots, as well as get inspiration for my own digital layouts.  I also use her "links" page to view other digital scrapbooking sites and to purchase materials or classes.  Since using Photoshop was completely new to me, I have also viewed her tutorials several times to remind myself about certain concepts in using PSE.  With that as my springboard, I have also taken some online classes at Jessica Sprague's website to help grow my love of digital scrapbooking.  Of course, I need pictures to digitally lay out, so I have my best friend, Kelley Reiter, a teacher and photographer, to take gorgeous pictures of my family and my girls to do that work for me!    

I also enjoy going to movies and watching TV.  In fact, I think my parents were surprised when I told them I was going into teaching rather than moving to Hollywood to pursue my dream of becoming a famous actress.  A site that I can waste hours on is IMDB.  I love that I can see an actor who may look vaguely familiar to me on an episode of whatever it is I'm watching, and at my fingertips, I can find out who he or she is and how I recognize him or her.  It's addictive!

Lastly, I enjoy cooking for my family, and this blog, Six Sisters' Stuff, is one of my favorite places to find easy, delicious recipes.  The crockpot recipes here are some of my favorites, and there are also great ideas for parties and crafts that I've used.  I actually found this blog on Pinterest, and have followed it religiously since then.  

Of course, I check my Facebook page multiple times a day, too!  

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